Spike in child abuse
Catholic women raise alarm over spike in child abuse during lockdowns
Catholic women are calling for increased prevention efforts after pandemic lockdowns led to an increase in child abuse at home.
Katharina Anna Fuchs is a professor at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome who has conducted research for its Centre for Child Protection and recently co-authored a book on child abuse prevention.
She spoke at an international webinar organized by the World Union of Catholic Women’s Organizations (WUCWO) on March 30.
“Due to isolation, lockdown, quarantine, and so on, a huge number of children has been abused over the last year … many of them also sexually,” Fuchs said.